Scope: Canada.
New-registration data—not sales forecasts—shows conventional hybrids held broadly steady year over year in Q1 2026 while plug-in and battery-electric registrations rose.
Key takeaway: In Q1 2026, Statistics Canada recorded 53,584 new conventional-hybrid registrations, 13,305 plug-in hybrids and 29,808 battery-electric vehicles. These are registrations, not a forecast and not the same measure as retail sales.
Canada’s electrified-vehicle market did not move in one direction. The latest quarterly registration table shows different year-over-year patterns for conventional hybrids, plug-in hybrids and battery-electric vehicles. Reading those categories separately matters because only battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles are included in Statistics Canada’s zero-emission-vehicle subtotal.
On this page
- Latest quarterly results
- How categories differ
- What changed in 2025
- What the data cannot prove
New registrations in Q1 2026
| Fuel type | Q1 2025 | Q1 2026 | Year-over-year change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hybrid electric | 53,828 | 53,584 | −244 (about −0.5%) |
| Plug-in hybrid electric | 10,828 | 13,305 | +2,477 (about +22.9%) |
| Battery electric | 26,401 | 29,808 | +3,407 (about +12.9%) |
| All fuel types | 426,872 | 397,601 | −29,271 (about −6.9%) |
The calculations above use Statistics Canada Table 20-10-0025-01 and are rounded to one decimal place. Statistics Canada applies random tabular adjustment to protect confidentiality, so values include a small degree of uncertainty. Estimates for some geographies may also be unavailable because of data-sharing limitations.
Hybrid, plug-in hybrid and battery electric are different categories
| Category | External charging? | Statistics Canada treatment |
|---|---|---|
| Hybrid electric (HEV) | No | Separate hybrid-electric fuel type; not part of the ZEV subtotal. |
| Plug-in hybrid electric (PHEV) | Yes | Included in the zero-emission-vehicle subtotal used in the table. |
| Battery electric (BEV) | Yes | Included in the zero-emission-vehicle subtotal. |
A conventional hybrid combines an internal-combustion engine with an electric motor and battery but is not plugged in. A plug-in hybrid can be charged externally and also carries an engine. A battery-electric vehicle relies on stored electricity for propulsion. Those differences affect charging needs, trip planning and how the data is categorized.
The 2025 annual picture was different
Statistics Canada reported 1,866,714 new motor-vehicle registrations in 2025, up 0.7% from 2024. Conventional-hybrid registrations increased 36.1% year over year, while battery-electric registrations declined 43.1% and plug-in hybrids declined 10.0%. Total new zero-emission-vehicle registrations fell 34.7% and represented 9.5% of new registrations, down from 14.6% in 2024.
Those annual results and the Q1 2026 comparison use different periods. A single quarter does not establish a durable trend, and registrations may respond to product availability, incentives, fleet activity and timing. This article therefore does not predict future adoption.
What the data can and cannot answer
- It can show recorded new registrations by fuel type and period.
- It can support year-over-year and quarter-to-quarter comparisons using the same table.
- It does not explain an individual buyer’s motivation.
- It should not be relabelled as sales without using a sales dataset.
- It does not establish which powertrain is best for a household.
Sources and update note
- Statistics Canada: Table 20-10-0025-01: New motor vehicle registrations, quarterly (2026-06-11; accessed 2026-07-26)
- Statistics Canada: New motor vehicle registrations, fourth quarter 2025 (2026-03-12; accessed 2026-07-26)
Data period: Q1 2026, with 2025 annual context. Verified: 2026-07-26. Review when Statistics Canada publishes Q2 2026 registrations.